It is generally recognized in the dental profession that plaque which remains on the teeth after brushing is a major cause of tooth and gum problems and that flossing is the only effective process for individuals to remove that plaque. Unfortunately, flossing is not as popular as it should be, particularly among children, probably because of the difficulty and inconvenience of using known flossing products and techniques.
The most common commercial floss product is a multifilament thread of considerable length, e.g., 50 or 100 yards, wound on a packaged spool. Use of this product involves pulling an appropriate section of thread from the package, severing the withdrawn section and wrapping its ends about two fingers on opposite hands, and then working the section in the inter tooth spaces while maintaining it in a taut state. These manipulations require a degree of dexterity which make the flossing process unattractive to many people and very difficult for most children. In addition, maintenance of the tension required for effective plaque removal causes the thread to bind and tend to cut the user's fingers. Moreover, renewal of the active portion of the thread, if it should become frayed as flossing proceeds, necessitates the further inconvenient manipulation of unwinding thread from one finger and winding it onto the other finger, Finally, the packaged spools are somewhat bulky, so carrying the floss in a pocket or in a handbag is a burden. As a result, frequent use of the floss is discouraged.
A solution to many of these problems existing in the flossing products of the prior art was provided in my earlier invention described and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,600. In that case I provided an improved dental floss comprising a multifilament thread forming a flossing loop which may be joint-free and comprise many turns of a single, continuous filament or it may be made from multifilament thread and has a joint formed by gluing, heat sealing, knotting or air splicing. The latter type loop can include at least one protruding tail which performs a mopping function during plaque removal.
During flossing procedure, as one section of floss has done its cleaning, a fresh section can be easily rotated into use without rewinding and unwinding floss from one hand onto the other. Because it is a relatively small device, a loop of floss can be handily rinsed during the cleaning procedure (as a person rinses the toothbrush frequently when brushing teeth).
A more recent improved commercial format has been marketed under the trademark Oral B Superfloss which provides precut lengths of floss comprising a short leader section of single stranded, relatively stiff multifilament thread, a central section of entangled strands of multifilament threads of greater cross-sectional area than the leader section and a trailing length of a single strand of multifilament thread which serves as the anchoring end which can be wrapped around the fingers to provide support for the flossing action around the teeth.
A further alternative is taught by Ringle in U.S. Pat. No. 5,094,255, filed Feb. 8, 1989 and issued Mar. 10, 1992. In that patent a dental floss implement is made from a shaped multifilament acrylic fiber (preferably three and four filament threads are used) where a portion of the fiber can be modified by treatment with one or more of the following: solvent, embedding plastic, heat, pressure or tension.
It is therefore the purpose of the present invention to provide improved flossing composite constructs that allow the user to benefit from the advantages of a relatively rigid monofilament element which can function as an efficient leader sequence which can allow easy passage between the teeth and bonded to such element a multifilament section which can be provided in multiple forms to assist the cleaning action and to provide user support when provided in various looped forms. The composite is readily formed by bonding the multifilament thread or yarn and the extruded monofilament element using methods well known in the art such as, for example, electronic welding, or welding with a suitable glue or adhesive or by air splicing. Such procedures allow the floss composites of the present invention to be produced using existing production equipment thus providing facile production, packaging and withdrawal of the product from the dispensing container. As was pointed out in my earlier patent (U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,600) the presence of one or more tails is useful in the flossing procedure as it serves a mopping function when passing between the teeth. In addition the composites of the present invention provide leader portions which are of simple construction avoiding the complex steps needed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,094,255 to convert the acrylic multifilament thread into the leader section.